A semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as “wafer”) is stuck with an adhesive sheet for protecting a circuit surface thereof, and subjected to peeling off the adhesive sheet from the wafer in a stage after the wafer is subjected to a predetermined treatment.
For an apparatus for peeling off the above-described adhesive sheet, for example, an arrangement is known which is capable of peeling off the adhesive sheet by sticking an elongated strip-shaped peeling tape to the adhesive sheet, and winding the adhesive sheet, as described in Patent document 1.    [Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-175253